Open Source

Ferris Python's 80% Less Day Off

By Adrian Bridgwater, March 06, 2013

Ferris open source Python framework for RAD development on Google App Engine

Integration company Cloud Sherpas has launched an open source Python language-based framework for custom development on the Google App Engine. This release could help reduce the time it takes to build cloud and mobile applications on the Google Cloud Platform by as much as 80 percent.

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Known as "Ferris" (as in the short-cutting character from the Ferris Bueller's Day Off movie), the framework's 80% time-saving claim comes from Cloud Sherpas' own test engineers usage of the product.

NOTE: Google Apps is classified (by Google and a few others) as the "fastest-growing" cloud messaging and collaboration platform now with over 50 million users and five million business customers. It is estimated that over one million applications have been developed in the five years since Google launched App Engine.

Cloud Sherpas says it has created hundreds of applications using Google App Engine so far. The promise here is one where the repetitive developer tasks are eliminated, allowing teams to focus on business logic.

Ferris is a lightweight, customizable, open source software framework that is available for free under the Apache License, Version 2. Key features include a Model-View-Controller architecture and flexible routing for Rails-like rapid application development, a template, and theme engine built on Jinja2, form definition and processing with WTForms library — plus a plugin architecture to drop-in additional functionality and share functionality between applications.

There is also integration with Google Accounts, OAuth2 and Google Client API integration, automatic REST/JSON API for Models and native App Engine libraries for data modelling.

"Ferris is an accomplishment that will influence how millions of Google Apps developers build cloud and mobile applications," said Douglas Shepard, president of the Google business unit at Cloud Sherpas.

"For developers using Ferris, the benefits are faster time-to-market for their applications and a more intuitive development environment. For CIOs and IT departments, Ferris could mean massive cost savings, richer end-user experiences, and increased revenue from customer-facing applications," he added.

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